Are fitness and exercise new year’s resolutions for you? How about for your child? Both of these are possible with yoga for kids, plus lots of fun. Yoga has tremendous health and wellness benefits for children and adults.
You do not need to be a yoga instructor to do yoga with your child. There are some wonderful videos on YouTube that you and your child can do together. A really fun series is Cosmic Kids Yoga. The yoga moves are combined with adventures and stories about animals. If you participate with your child, you get some of the same health and wellness benefits such as increased flexibility, relaxation, concentration, focus, self-control, balance, body awareness, coordination, and confidence, plus reduced stress and anxiety. That’s quite a list of reasons to include yoga in a routine.
For young children, yoga, as well as other movement activities, are building connections and pathways in the brain that are used for a variety of learning, such as language and math. Besides physical and mental skills yoga also impacts the development of self-control and emotional regulation. Yoga is often particularly helpful for children with anxiety disorders.
I have shared this story before, and it will put a smile on your face, even if you have already heard it. A young mom was going out to her class. When her 3-year old daughter heard “Yoga”, she asked her mom if she would see also see Darth Vader, but no, Yoda wasn’t there.
Besides the youtube videos–and check out the really cool one below of how bendy the body gets during yoga–there are books available about yoga. Some communities may have introductory or more advanced classes for kids and parents. If you feel so inclined, you might want to join with 2 or 3 other families for a yoga morning or afternoon once a week. That way you could enjoy yoga and each others company at the same time. Is this an appealing new year’s resolution for your family?